Let me thank you again for everything,
for having me and myself here, especially for all the work that
you've done to bring this conference, this meeting about. all of the
service and you ladies, especially for the food and all what we've
already eaten. Thank you very much for it. It's
just delicious. It's wonderful. I anticipate
another meal just like that this afternoon. I'm quite certain
of it. Kentucky, I know how Kentucky women can cook. My mother was
the world's greatest And now my wife is next to her. But especially thank you, Brother
David, you and Teresa for all you've done for us. I love you, thankful for you,
your friendship. Brother Gene read from 2 Samuel
9. Brother Gene, I hope this won't
be a disappointment to you, but I'm not gonna preach from that.
I'm gonna mention it at the end of this message. But turn with
me to Matthew 15. Matthew 15. That story he read
to us, Mephibosheth, one who obtained mercy and grace for
Jonathan's sake. And Mephibosheth was so overcome
He called himself a dead dog, remember? A dead dog, and Lord's
mercy and grace and kindness to a dead dog. Well, I wanna
tell you another story about a dog who received mercy from
the Lord, a woman, and the title is The Master and His Dog. This
is a familiar story, another gospel story. The gospel means
good news, the good news of how Christ came into this world to
save sinners. The great master, lord and master
of the universe, came into this wretched place, he calls this
present evil world, that's what he called it, to save sinners. Wretched, miserable, poor, blind,
naked sinners that didn't want him to come, didn't ask for him
to come, and when he came here, asked him to leave. Behold, what manner of, And he's
did it one way, by the sacrifice of himself on Calvary's tree,
the precious, the shed blood of a lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he came, who he came
for, dead dog sinners. Brother Maurice used to always
say that, didn't he? Dead dog sinners. Lord was in
Galilee. He spent a great deal of time
there. He left there, verse 21, it says,
he went and departed into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. He walked
30 or more miles one way to get to this area, this place, Tyre
and Sidon. Tyre and Sidon was a place notorious,
notoriously evil. The Lord said that. He said,
woe unto you, Tyre and Sidon. I mean, he said, woe unto you,
Capernaum, for if the works that have been done in you had been
done in Tyre and Sidon, that decadent place, they would have
repented. Remember that? Or Sodom, he likened
it to Sodom. So this was a decadent place.
It was a heathen place. It's far away from Jerusalem,
very far. It was the uttermost, northernmost
part of the country. Not really a part of Israel at
all. And our Lord walked 30 or more miles one way, 60 to 70 miles round trip. Why? To save one person. Doesn't the scripture say he's
able to save? He's willing to save to the uttermost,
the farthest most. Now, in Mark's gospel, it says
in verse 22, look at this. Behold, a woman of Canaan came
out of the same coat, called on the Lord, cried unto the Lord.
Mark's gospel says a certain woman. Scripture says that often,
that a certain man, a certain woman. This woman was one of
our Lord's elect, one of his chosen. people, one of his lost
sheep. And this was a prearranged meeting,
a predestined meeting before the world began. He came into
this world to save Sinner. And every move he made and everything
he did was in the direction of saving his people, finding his
lost sheep. And he found them where they
were, where he put them. Zacchaeus was up a tree. The
woman was at a well, you know, and on and on it went. Well,
this woman was a far off. This was a prearranged meeting,
one of his elect. She's a Gentile. She's not a
Jew. She's a Gentile. She was a far
off. He came a long way to save her.
I'll tell you how far he came, really. It wasn't just 30 miles. It was all the way from glory.
All the way from heaven, he came down to this earth to save such
a one as that, a dead dog sinner. And that's not how far he went. He went further than that. He
went down into the depths of hell itself on Calvary's tree.
Oh, how far did he come. What great lengths our Lord went
to save his people. John's saying, when he reached
down for me, how far down did he reach for you? This woman was a Gentile woman,
far off. She was in a place where there
was no tabernacle. There was no people of God. There
was no synagogue. There was no truth. And yet our
Lord came and bring her out, save her, reveal himself to you.
Now, if someone is one of God's elect, one of God's children,
they must hear his voice. They're going to hear his voice.
They're going to hear the truth. and they're gonna call on the
name of the Lord, for whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be saved. How shall they hear? Without
a preacher, except they be sent, all right? There's not one of
God's people that's saved without hearing the gospel, without hearing
the truth, without hearing Christ's voice, not one. They're elect,
yes, but they're going to hear the gospel. They're going to
hear the truth. They're going to bow to the Lord
Jesus Christ. They're going to call on him.
They're going to worship him and they're going to hear his
voice and they're going to confess what they are and confess him. They're going to seek the Lord.
They're going to call on the Lord. They're going to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. They're going to fall on their
face at his feet and ask for mercy. and they're gonna confess
what they are, and they're gonna confess Him in believer's baptism.
Every one of them. You must, you must, our Lord
said so. If you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, you will. Baptism is not confessing ourselves,
it's confessing Him. And our Lord said, if you don't,
you're denying me. We're not confessing ourselves,
we're confessing Him. And those that are lost must
hear the truth. They must hear the gospel, the
gospel, and there's only one to be saved. Now Mark's gospel
in chapter three, well, turn back to Matthew chapter four.
Mark's gospel said, from Jerusalem beyond Jordan, Tyre and Sidon,
great multitudes heard and they came unto him. In Matthew's gospel,
look at chapter four, verse 24. It says, That is, he was heard of everywhere. Verse 23, he went about all Galilee
teaching and preaching. Our Lord came to preach the gospel
of the kingdom, didn't he? And heal all manner of sickness.
The gospel is the healing power of God, the saving power of the
God. There is no other power of God. This is what God used
to save sinners. You must hear the gospel. Our
Lord was a preacher of the gospel, wasn't he? And that's what heals sick sinners
and saves demon-possessed, takes captivity captive. Verse 24,
Matthew 4 says, his fame went throughout all Syria. And those
that heard about him, they brought unto him all sick people that
were taken with diverse diseases and torments and those possessed
with devils and lunatic, those that had the palsy, and he healed
them. Those that heard of Christ, heard that Christ was the Savior,
those who had somebody that needed saving, that was possessed with
the devil, they brought them to hear Christ. They knew there's
only one way that one possessed with the devil was gonna be Dispossessed. Christ. This woman, the daughter, was
possessed with the devil. How does she know? Because she
once was. And she knew where that daughter
of hers was because she had been there. And she knew she heard
of Christ, and she knew there's one way my daughter is gonna
be saved. He says, Christ speaks to her. and everyone has heard the truth
and everybody who themselves knows who Christ is and heard
his voice and they know there's one way that their child or their
lost spouse or their parents or their neighbors or whoever
it is that don't know in one way they're gonna be saved is
to hear his voice and they're gonna bring them, right? We're just not coming to church
here, we're coming to where Christ is promised to be, where the
gospel is preached, that is able to save to the uttermost. There's
no other way. No other way. This is a message
of life or death. And this is the place where Christ
is promised to be. And if you want to have somebody
that needs saving, they're gonna have to hear this gospel. And
Mark's gospel says that he was in a house, a certain house.
He came to a house and it said he would have no man know it.
He didn't tell anybody where he was going. They said it couldn't
be hid. It was noise abroad. He's in that house right down
there. Not that one, not that one. He's
right down there. That's where he is. Is he just
in one place? Most of the time, yeah. Straight
is the gate. Narrow is the way that leadeth
unto life. Few there be that find it. Wide
is the gate. Broad is the way that leads to
destruction. Many go there. God's not in every
place. He's in a few places here and
there. God's houses where his gospel preached, Brother Gene,
are few and far between, aren't they? It's always been that way. They probably said, you know
they said of Noah, Noah, you think you're right and everybody's
wrong? You and seven other people, you got the truth and nobody
else does? You know what Noah said? That's right. That's one gospel. You know it's
so. Turn on your TV, turn on your
radio. You're not hearing this gospel anywhere else. God has been pleased. God has
sovereignly, in mercy and grace and love and kindness, brought
the gospel that we're so unworthy of to this little place right
here, this ship, this little ark, this little refuge, this
little oasis in the wilderness, right here. This little brown
building, like that tabernacle in the wilderness. How blessed
you are. And if your loved one's gonna be saved, they're gonna
come here and hear it from that man right there. That's a fact. That's a fact. He was in one
place. If this woman's gonna hear him,
she's gonna go to that house. And she did. She heard about
it. Says he couldn't be hid. A city set on a hill can't be
hid. Christ is a light. And his sheep
gonna hear his voice. They're gonna come. Spirit of
God's gonna lead them where he is. And they're gonna come crying
and calling and begging for mercy. And they're gonna get it. They
want it. So that's too narrow. But I didn't
say the gospel was narrow, Jesus Christ did. He did. But she had a daughter
vexed with the devil. Verse 20 in our text, it says,
she came out of the same coast and cried unto him. You don't
have to come out of the camp to meet him. And she cried unto him, one thing,
have mercy on me. Oh Lord, thou son of David, my
daughter is grievously vexed with the devil. Her daughter
was vexed with the devil. Her daughter was captive to the
God of this world. Her daughter was in the grip
of the God of this world. The God of this world who holds
captive people right now at his will. Her daughter was altogether
taken up with this world. This is what the God of this
world uses. This is what the God of this
world tempts with. This is what the God of this
world holds people in captivity to, the things of this world.
Don't think of demon possession or captivity to Satan as being
dressed in black and your body mutilated and on drugs. That
is demon possession, but that's not all it is. You can be an
upstanding person sitting in a church pew. Be successful, be educated and
have a nice house and cars and everything and be possessed by
the God of this world. Be totally possessed with this
world is to be possessed by Him. Isn't that right? And all our sons and daughters
until the Lord comes leads captivity to captivity. Every single one
of them are possessed by him. That's why they need to be here
to hear the truth that's able to make them wise unto salvation.
I thought my parents were being unreasonably cruel to make me
come and hear the gospel all the time. It's the best thing
they could've ever done. That's good parenting, not providing
the best education, not buying them everything money can buy.
That's the worst parenting. The best is to bring them where
the gospel is and have them sitting under the sound of the gospel
that's able to save their soul. And if he does that, everything's
gonna be fine, whether he's a garbage man or waiting tables at the
local diner. If they know the Lord Jesus Christ,
nothing else matters. One thing is needful. One thing. God's gonna destroy this whole
mess. And only those in Christ in the
ark are gonna be saved from it. And this whole world, our children,
our spouses, are held captive by the God of this world. There's
one hope, it's this gospel. I came a long way to preach.
Why am I gonna preach? Why am I here? Preach a life
or death matter message. Some in here don't know him.
Some young people don't know him. Urgent message, isn't it,
Brother David? Your heart's desire and prayer
to God from Madisonville so that they'd be saved on every one
of these people. Demon possession. She's vexed
with the devil. They can take on different My
brother-in-law, me and his brothers, he's possessed, isn't he? He's
been in and out of prison many times. Drugs, you name it. He
was my best friend. Derek, we were best friends. We were buddies. But God spoke to me in this big town. All right, her brother has just
been in and out of prison and on drugs and all. My brother's
a college professor. Successful in this world. Brilliant. One of the most talented pianists
you'll ever hear. Got it all. He's just as lost. There ain't no degrees of lost.
Usually in Christ you're not. You can be in the pew and be
lost as well as on the barstool. The host is lost. There's only
one hope for the lost. That's the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This woman was living in a place
where there was no truth, and now her daughter is possessed
with the devil. Well, it's no wonder. Right? If you don't understand the gospel,
if your children don't understand the gospel, don't think it's
strange if you're possessed. And his wife had a marital problem,
and he contacted me. Serious marital problem. It's
gotten violent now, and I don't see any hope for it. But he didn't
want this one hope. And I told him, you and your
wife need to move where the gospel is. You both need to be under
the sound of the gospel. Calling on the name of the Lord
under the sound of the word. Maybe the Lord will save you
and your marriage. You two can't get along, one of you's saved,
or one of you's lost, or both. You gotta be under the sound
of the gospel. Is that good advice? Well, it's just facts, truth. Now this, our Lord came to call
this woman out. Out of darkness into light, out
of death into life, and so she came out. And now look at this,
verse 22. She called on the name of the
Lord. She said, have mercy on me, oh Lord. What'd she call
him? Lord, when the scripture says, whosoever shall call on
the name of the Lord, what does that mean? It means what it says,
Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. I see these signs everywhere, thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Jesus. I hear religion everywhere saying,
praise Jesus. They don't know the Lord. They
wouldn't be calling him that. One time he said to his disciples,
you call me master and Lord if you say well, that's so I am. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. I'll tell you what you find out.
Everybody finds out. Everybody the Lord reveals himself
to. What they find out is he's your Lord long before you even
know he's your Savior. Long before that, you're gonna
worship him and bow to him and fear him as Lord and not thinking
you're one of his same people. That's a fact. This woman didn't
know she's gonna get mercy from him yet, but she called him Lord. Barnabas used to say that. You
can't have Jesus as your savior if you don't bow to him as your
Lord. You don't accept that. Nobody makes him Lord, God made
him Lord. He's everybody's Lord whether
they know it or not. And here salvation is to find
out that he is. For him to reveal this first
thing he revealed to everyone he saved is that he is your absolute
sovereign Lord and you're in his hands and everybody and everything
you own is in his hands to do with as he pleases. It ain't up to you. She came and cried and called
him Lord. Well, what she asked for? What
did she ask for? Have mercy on me. Have mercy,
Lord, have mercy. This whole world is blaspheming
God's name, little children saying, oh my God. And if your children
do that, you better correct them right now. That's taking God's
name in vain. He will not hold them guiltless
who takes his name in vain. If you say it, you better stop
saying it. The whole world's saying, oh my God. But buddy,
when God reveals who he is to you, his son, who his son is,
you know what you'll be saying? Oh my God, have mercy on me. You'll be saying that from your
heart, from the bottom of your heart. You're my God and I need
mercy at your hands. I'm a hell deserving rotten sinner,
a dead dog sinner, and all I need from your hands is mercy. And
what my child needs is mercy. The one thing they, mercy, mercy,
mercy, have mercy. Mercy means not getting what
we deserve. Mercy means kindness that we
don't deserve. Lord, please have mercy on me,
on my child. You know, it'd be the greatest
mercy the Lord can have on you is if the Lord saved your child. God, so merciful to men tonight. Gave us a dear daughter. We weren't
supposed to have that one, but he gave her to us. Named her
Hannah, grace of God. Oh, we're so blessed for her.
She was just a blessing from day one. 16 years old. Oh, it's good for a young man,
a young woman to bear the yoke in their youth. Oh my, if the
Lord would just put that yoke on them and their youth before
this world gets a hold of them. And our Lord did, in mercy of
Christ. 16. What a blessing. but they're never too old. My
brother's not beyond reach. Not many wise men, not many,
but this son. Mercy, Lord, spare me. Lord,
spare my daughter. Many call for many things, and
the Lord doesn't hear them. But those who cry for mercy, It takes great pleasure in them
that fear him and hope in his mercy. And she needed mercy. She needed mercy for her daughter.
Well, look at verse 23. It says, he answered her, not
a word. He answered her, not a word.
And he walked off because she went to his disciples then. He
didn't answer. He acted like, it seemed like
he ignored her and just walked off. How different is the Jesus Christ,
the Lord Jesus Christ of scripture than the one today? The one that's
standing outside people's hearts door hoping they'll let him in?
That ain't the Lord Jesus Christ. If that's the one you confessed
in baptism, you confessed the wrong one. You need to confess
the right one. How different is the Lord Jesus
Christ than the one men are preaching today? This other Jesus who wants
to and can, tries and fails, and just hopes so much you'll
let him do anything. This is a sovereign Lord Jesus
Christ, a sovereign master of the universe. He might save him,
he might not. It's his will. It's always completely
up to his will, his discretion, his power. He doesn't have to
answer anybody. He doesn't answer to anybody.
Why should he? Why should he? Why should the
Lord of glory answer one sinner? Why should he? We go all our
lives, we live all our lives without giving God a thought.
Had this woman ever called on the Lord before? Probably not.
Has she ever given him thanks before? Probably not. Isn't that
all men and women by nature, huh? Go for years, never give
God thanks. never calling the Lord, and to
try to bring them to God's house where they worship the Lord.
That's why we're here. We're just here to give thanks,
to sing a few songs to our sovereign benefactor. It's our blessed
Lord who's done all this for us. Been so gracious to us. That's our reasonable service
in it. All flesh ought to give Him praise and thank Him. for
everything, young people. Why should we make them sing
these songs? Because he's been good to them. Need to sing thanks
to him and praise to him, that's why. But most people, it's like
pulling teeth to get them to come just sit and worship God
a little bit. Why should he answer anybody?
They get in trouble and everybody gets in trouble. Oh, God help
me. Why should he answer? Would you? If you had a dog,
all its life, all it did was growl at you, bite you, hand,
the hand that fed it. How long would you put up with
that, Donald? Well, this is why the scripture says the long suffering
of the Lord is salvation. Because that's the way every
one of us are. Get in trouble, call on the Lord. Because he's so merciful, he's
not like us. Long suffering, great in mercy, great in mercy. He seemed to ignore, he didn't
ignore. He's testing her. You seek me,
he said, you'll find me when you search for me with all your
heart. Calling on the name of the Lord
doesn't mean to utter a little prayer or say grace at the table. I don't know where that term
ever came from. You don't say grace, we ask for
it. Anyway, so she went to his disciples,
which is a good thing to do. The Lord has his disciples. The
Lord has his men he called to preach the gospel. These were
God's Christ's chosen disciples. They were the ones that had the
truth. You wanna hear the truth, you're gonna go where God has
a man that preaches the truth. You're gonna go hear from him.
Yes, you are. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching. And how shall they preach except they be sent? And
all of them aren't sent. Most preachers are not sent. You got to send one. Our children,
everybody's going to have to hear about it. Well, you know
what his preachers are going to do? They're going to run to the Lord.
They're going to call on the Lord. Lord, we can't save them. Help, Lord speak. Don't we, Brother
David? Oh, Lord, please, I can't do
this. I can't do anything. I can't
convince anybody. I can't save myself. I can't
help myself. Lord, would you speak? This is
your word. This is your power. This is what
you promised to me. Lord, you speak to her. That's what they did. They went
to him. Lord, they's just crying after us. We can't help her. But he answered
and said, now he said this through them, look at verse 24. He answered
and said, through them, he sent them back to tell her this, verse
24. I am not sent but unto the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. That's it. So they went back
and told her, Lord said, he's only sent to save his elect. That's what that means though.
I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob have I loved,
these all have I hated. That's what he's saying, isn't
it? I'll save whom I will, whom I will harden. I have an elect
people. Go tell this woman, I have an
elect people and that's the only ones I've come to save. Didn't
come to try to save goats, I came to save sheep. And they're all
lost and they know it. And I'm gonna save every one
of them. Nobody, none less, no more. My elect, go tell her. He went back and told her, he
said he's only here to save his elect. Well, surely she's gonna
get mad at that. If she's an average person, she
would. Most people hate the sound of it. You know who hates election? The non-elect. You know who loves God's sovereign
election? The elect. They all know, if he hadn't chosen
me, I'd have never gave him a thought. You're looking at the prodigal
son here. And here I am preaching. Oh, man. My old cronies can't
believe it. I can't either. I can't either. My boy. "'Tis not that I did
choose thee, Lord, that could not be. "'This heart would still
refuse thee, had thou not chosen me.'" So they told her that. He's only
come here for his elect people. Verse 25, what'd she do? Didn't
run her off at all. This is how you know the elect,
Brother Gene. It's how you know the sheep, you can't run them
off. You can't make her mad, you can't offend a dog. She came and what'd she do? Mark's
gospel says she fell on her face. She fell on her face and did
what? Worshiped Him. Shelly, before she ever got an
answer, before she ever got mercy, before the Lord healed her daughter,
she worshiped Him. You're my Lord. You're my only
hope. You're my daughter's only hope.
If you save me or save her, you're still Lord. You've still done
much more for me now than I've deserved. I haven't received
what I deserve at your hand. Now I'm going to worship you. I'm not sure if it's Calvin or
Bunya. I forget who it was. They asked him one time. You
believe only the elect. Somebody hated the truth, said,
you believe only the elect will be saved, don't you? He said,
that's right. That's what the Bible said. He
said, what if you could read in the Lamb's book of life and
your name was not there, would you still worship him? He said,
I sure would. Well, why? They said, why would
you worship him if you're not one of the elect? He said, because
he's worthy. because he's worthy. Nobody deserves to be saved.
Nobody deserves a chance to be saved. Thank God's salvation
not by chance, by his choice, by sovereign mercy. Nobody deserves
to be saved. Salvation by mercy, by grace,
by his choice. If he chose you, oh my, you'll
thank him for sovereign election. She came and worshiped him, and
she said three words, Lord, help me. I have no help. I have no hope. But if you don't
help me, I have no hope. I have no hope. Then he said,
he answered. He finally spoke to her. In verse
26, here's what he said. He said, it's not me to take
the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. He's calling her
a dog. She's a Gentile. That's what
Jews called them, didn't they? Dog. He said, it's not fit, it's
not fitting to give the children's bread to dogs. All right, first
he ignores her. Seemed to. No, he didn't ignore
her. He's trying. But he seemed to
ignore her. And then he said, only the elect
will be saved. And he calls her a dog. Now what's she going to
do? Surely, she is insulted. Surely, she's mad. Surely, she's going to storm
away in anger. And I'm not here. That's a hard
saying, call me a dog like that. Surely, she's going to run away.
No, she doesn't. You know what she said? One word. Truth. Lord. To him ignoring her, to
her being unworthy of his notice, she said, truth, I don't deserve
your notice. I'm not worthy of saving. To
his absolute sovereignty, to his right to save whom he will,
she said, truth. That's the truth, you're God,
I'm a sinner, salvation is by sovereign mercy, by the electing
grace of God, truth! There is no truth apart from
this. The truth is nothing less and nothing more than God's sovereign
mercy and love and grace to his chosen people in Christ. The
truth of her being nothing but a dog, she said truth. That's
what I am, so I'm a dog. Truth, Lord. All of God's people
are saved by the truth. Is it necessary to preach the
truth and believe the truth to be saved? Yes! There is no salvation
apart from it. They all believe the truth. Tulip! Brother Gene, Dad, we had this
preacher's class, you know, for two years, okay? And he started
out by saying, Tulip or terminate! Total depravity, unconditional
election, limited or particular addiction, irresistible grave,
perseverance of the saints. That's the gospel, there's no
other gospel. Anything more or less is not the gospel. Tulip
or terminal. That's what he said. She said,
truth. That's the truth. The whole truth
and nothing but the truth. So help me God. That's what this
book is, from cover to cover. Salvation's of the Lord. And
all here, all of his people, all of his elect, they hear this,
they bow, they believe, they call, and they cry, truth, Lord,
truth. Mercy and truth. Righteousness
and peace hath kissed each other. And all those things you didn't
have anything to do with. is all his sovereign will in
Christ. And yet she says this, verse
27, truth, Lord, yet the dogs ate of the crumbs which fall
from the master's table. What she's saying is, Lord, I'm
a dog, but I sure hope I'm your dog. Can I be your dog? I'll be your
dog. If you just throw me a few crumbs,
just let me be your dog and sit under your table and just throw
me a few crumbs of mercy, a little bit of grace, a little bit of
mercy, just have a little bit of mercy. No, the Lord can't
have a little bit of mercy. His dogs eat well. They don't, Go back to 2 Samuel,
I told you we were gonna go there. Go back to 2 Samuel 9. I had
a dog, you have dogs. I've seen what your dogs eat.
I see how you treat your dogs. We had a dog, a little Shih Tzu.
It was aptly named, properly named, Shih Tzu. And that little
Shih Tzu, he slept in the bed with us for 15 years. Died in his mother's arms. He never ate a crumb in his life. I knew a man, where did I say,
where is Second Samuel? I knew a man, blessed brother,
loved him dearly. He was a widower for many years,
never remarried. and down in Winston-Salem Church
there. And he had a dog. When you're
alone, you get a companion, you get a dog. And he had this dog.
He loved that dog dearly. He took that dog every single
morning to McDonald's. And he got a Big Mac. He got
his dog a Big Mac. Every day. I think at supper,
he got him a breakfast of egg McMuffin. And then at supper,
he got him a Big Mac. Crumbs? God's people eat fat
things and wine on the leaves. No, they're not gonna be under
the table. They're gonna sit at the table. Look, Oma Fibisheth said here,
David said, I will surely show thee kindness. For Jonathan said,
will the Lord show us mercy? Will he? If you come to him by
Christ, he surely will. He most surely will. Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord be saved. God will accept
every single dead dog sinner that come to him by Christ asking
for mercy. Every one of them. And old Mephibosheth
bowed himself in worship. And here's what he said. What
is thy servant that thou should look on a dead dog? Now Derek,
he wasn't just a dog, he's a dead dog. Have you ever gone out,
buddy, and picked up a dead dog off the highway? Took it home
with you? Would you? Dead deer, maybe. A dog, who needs such a thing? And he doesn't need such a thing.
But all who think of themselves as such, and who need him to
pick them up, lest they die, He has mercy on them. And he
brings them home. And he says three times, look
at verse... Verse nine, King called and said,
Mephibosheth, I've given everything of thy master's son, all that
pertain to Ziba, Saul's servant. I've given everything to your
master's son and all that pertain to Saul and his house. Christ
restored everything we lost in Adam. And you know, this whole
world exists to serve God's people. 35 people, where David said,
35 people want to serve one man. Ethiopia and Sheba, for God's
right. And he said, Mephibosheth, verse
10, the last line, shall eat bread always at my table as one
of the king's sons. He's my son. He not, no, not
gonna be under the table. He'll sit at the table. You know, I had a dog and you
heard about him. I love dogs. I don't love all
dogs. Some dogs ain't worth loving. Most dogs. None of them are worth
loving until they're trained to domesticate. I love dogs. I don't love all of them, but
there's one dog I chose after I told you about it. I loved
him dearly. Loved him dearly. And you know how I talk to him?
Like a dog. I talked to him like a dog. And
he never once got offended. I said, you're just a dog. You
don't belong in the house. Oh, I want a big house. No, no,
you belong outside. He never got, well, I'll have
you know, I'm an Australian shepherd. I've got a pedigree. He never
said that one time. Never got offended. I know, I
know, but dog, I know it. I don't belong in a big house.
Oh, if you let me in, I'll just lie there at your feet. You know
what I did? I let him in the big house. And
I'd pat him on the head. He lived for that. And that was his life. He looked
at me so thankful for choosing him, for buying him, for bringing
him home, for feeding him, and letting him in the big house.
Are you a dog? You know, the Lord said that
woman had great faith. He said, I've never seen such
great faith, not always. What is great faith? You think
a great faith is doing some great exploits, doing something great
for the Lord? Here's great faith. It's knowing that you're a great
sinner, that you greatly sinned against a great God, against
great mercy and great grace, and you need a great salvation
and a great sacrifice, and there's only one, it's Jesus Christ.
And if he has mercy on you, God will get great glory from you.
That's great faith. Are you a dog? Oh my, maybe Lord
make it so. OK, thank you.